Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-century GermanyIn a riveting work of historical research, David Blackbourn brings might the period surrounding the days in July 1876 when three young girls claimed to have sighted the Virgin Mary in the fields outside the German town of Marpingen. As journalists, priests, and sellers of pious memorabilia descended on Marpingen, the sleepy town rapidly metamorphosed into a cause celebre, with supporters and opponents referring to it as "the German Lourdes," and even "the Bethlehem of Germany." "It is an undeniable fact that the whole world is talking about Marpingen," wrote one sympathetic commentator. "Marpingen has become the center of events that have shaken the world," suggested another. Tens of thousands of pilgrims flocked to the town, prompting numerous claims of miraculous cures -- as well as military intervention, the dispatch of an undercover detective, parliamentary debate, and a dramatic trial. Pondering what had happened from another perspective was a man on whom the drama placed a heavy burden. "The events are so tremendous," wrote a Marpingen parish priest, "that a true account of them would already fill a book." Blackbourn, a leading historian of modem Germany, vividly portrays the Catholic world of the Bismarckian era through a detailed exploration of the changing social, economic, and community structures that formed its matrix, and provides a sensitive account of popular religious beliefs. Ranging widely across the fields of social, cultural, and political history, he powerfully evokes the crisis-laden atmosphere of the 1870s, revealing the subtle interplay between politics and religion, the changing nature of the family itself, and the ferment of ideas that fueledthe great debate over "modernity." And in a final chapter, he looks ahead to the renewed apparitions of the Virgin in twentieth-century Marpingen against the background of war, Nazism, and the Cold War.A remarkable piece of historical detective work by an important scholar. |
Contents
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Nineteenth | 3 |
A Changing Village in the Saarland | 45 |
Economic Crisis and Political | 83 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in a Nineteenth-century German Village David Blackbourn No preview available - 1995 |
Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Bismarckian Germany David Blackbourn No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
Alsweiler Anglhuber apparition sites authorities Bachem Beauraing Berlin Besuch Bishop Blessed Virgin Bungert BZAR Catholic Centre Centre Party chapel church claimed clergy clerical cult cures Deggendorf diocese district Dittrichswalde enquiry Eppelborn Erscheinungen evidence Fasc Father Frau French gendarmes German Lourdes Geschichte girls GV Trier Härtelwald Heimatbuch Hubertus Ibid Jakob judgement July Kammer Katharina Koblenz Korum Kulturkampf Landrat LASB later Leist LHAK liberal Lourdes Mallmann Margaretha Kunz Marian Marian apparitions Marpingen Marpinger Matthias Eberhard mayor Meerscheidt-Hüllessem Merzig Metten Mettenbuch miners miraculous MMGE Müller MWOL Neureuter Neureuter's Nicklas Nikolaus nineteenth century officials Ottweiler parish priest Paul Majunke peasant Pfarrei Marpingen pilgrimage pilgrims police political Pontmain popular Prozeß Prussian Radziwill Rechtsstaat Recktenwald Regensburg reported Rhine Province Rumschöttel Saar Saarbrücken Saarland Saarlouis Sausseret sceptical Scheeben seers Senestrey Sept St Wendel Thoemes Tholey tion took ultramontane village Virgin Mary visionaries women Woytt Zeitung